(A melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution.)

"But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever." - Psalms 52:8

Sunday, June 15, 2008

this house is built by God

you know it when you've been in God's presence; your countenance changes and something deep in your heart unknots and love pours out easy and free.

that was how i felt during this year's kids camp.

before this camp, i was normally one of the leaders of a group of children, but this time i became Assistant Logistics for exposure.

preparing for logistics was not easy; there was so much planning to do; time, equipment, helpers needed, delegation of duties and multi tasking... the list just kept growing.

then one week before the camp i fell ill. i don't normally fall sick so when i did, i got hit so badly with flu that i was pretty much hazed out all the way.

but i kept going on coz there was so much undone! and amazingly, the week i caught the flu was the same period i managed to do the most work. my boss blessed me by allowing me to take a day off, so i stayed home, planned all my duties, as well as contacted the helpers (who were by then still pretty much clueless because we hadn't managed to give them much info as yet), then ran out of the house to chinatown to buy cloth, then rushed home in time to see the doc and get an MC.

thank goodness i managed to see him before the clinic closed. *phew*

the next day... more work. went to school still feeling terrible because the medicine made my runny nose stop and i stopped hacking up phlegm BUT IT MADE ME NAUSEOUS. i remember my boss coming to check in on the students' room and there i was, just getting up from a 2 hour nap.

he took one look at me, and chased me home. :D

so it gave me time to collect all the sound equipment from TCT, and i was actually pretty worried about meeting Doris, the lady in charge of sound equipment, because i'd heard that she can be quite harsh... but she was awesome! nice and friendly, and only a tad strict about how i should handle the equipment.

i was a total noob, so thank GOD carolyn and zhixiong finished their retreat early and came by to see if i needed help. both of them checked through everything for me to make sure they were all in working order, and doris also offered advice on what equipment i should have.

wow, the help that just flooded in without me even having to ask totally floored me.

we'd also lacked a water dispenser that ashley and melissa's mom offered, as well as one of those hot water dispenser/kettle things that keeps water hot. she also threw in a set of disposable table cloths FREE!

omgomgomgomg God is so good, and His people are so fantastic as well!

this was the point when i was really humbled and i realised that i've actually been very selfish about what i have and what other people offered freely really touched my heart. zhixiong, joe and alvin were so willing to sacrifice their time and strength that i really wanted to cry because i felt that i didn't deserve their help at all.

we called, and everything just fell into place. incredible.

carolyn also willingly drove me home with all the sound equipment and helped me with preparing the logistics needed for games, like specific lengths of raffia string, many many trashbag blindfolds, and strips of cloth (which we cut until we became a little high on cloth). it's amazing how i hate doing such sai gang usually, but with the right company it became so enjoyable and fun, even.

yeah i don't like to be a sai gang warrior, that's probably why i kena arrowed by divine intervention to do logistics. hehe, yes i've learnt loads. i'm so glad i know how to cut blindfolds from trashbags and i understand what mixers, fender systems, and a Mipro is. what an opportunity to learn, totally leaping out of my comfort zone, and revelling in the unknown. and every step of the way i wasn't alone but i had wonderful help from all around.

i saw the help offered so readily, and i give thanks to God for whoever was prompted to come to my aid. *feeling sobby already*

so, friday came around. i was still a little sniffly, but all set and ready to go. right in the morning i had my duties all planned out (i'm abit OCD in organization, sorry :p) so i just went ahead and got everything ready, though i was still feeling very out of sorts with the sound equipment (how to set up? what plug? huh?????! HALP.)

as the day progressed, dellia stepped in to advice me on how i should be flexible about my planning. she quickly gathered information on what i needed to handle, asked me questions which made me realize I HAVE THINGS UNDONE OMG!!! THE HORROR!!!, calmed me down and started giving orders rapidly.

she is so efficient and so quick on her feet that i was really impressed. i think at some point my jaw dropped. okay at many points of the camp my jaw dropped, and this was probably the first.

del quickly set up a route for the van (because the camp was held between 2 venues), so she arranged for us to go over while the program had no need for the team and hence sent all equipment over for us to set up and prepare the place before the campers arrived.

miracle #1: we had accommodation problems which, to cut the long story short, would not be a problem if we could sleep in the multipurpose hall, which we couldn't.

but when we reached the place, the caretaker allowed us to. amazing!! this camp should just be called "'Ask and you shall be given" Structured Experience Camp'. hahahahaha.

miracle #2: they had a sound system already set up and we could use it! (solves a lot of my problems thank God, thank God T_T)

miracle #3: the hall was free for us to use on the first day though we didn't book the hall!!

oh man, oh man. we were all so psyched when we heard the news.

now for the lovely points of the camp that are etched in my memory:

day 1's games for the kids - sara had this interesting strategy game involving kings, knights and soldiers, and the aim was to secure castles and forts. each person's life span was determined by a balloon that is tied to their back, and once burst, the 'dead' person could get another balloon but only at a fort. kings hold on to their flags (once lost, the entire team's down), soldiers can only defend and not attack, while knights are the attackers.

i was so proud of the red team. seriously. i was just sitting at the pavilion, holding on to the first aid kit (haha i don't even know first aid, it was supposed to be alvin :p) when i saw three of my kids, ashley, jolie and natalie running around with red bands (nat was a knight, i think. so cool!!!) following the leadership of ingrid.

omg, it's like once candice and ingrid put their red bands on they both morphed into warriors valiantly trying to lead the children to victory. *sobbles*

seriously, i've never seen two of them fight so hard. ingrid was only a soldier so she couldn't attack. i just heard her run past with a troop of children (hahaha i love that image) while she shouted, 'let's go let's go! come on come on, CHIONG AH!!!!!!!!' and then this whole swarm of red banded kids swarmed upon a neighboring castle and wrestled away their flag.

wow, power man. and quite scary. melvin was helpless as the guardian, he just kept spraying his water guns but hey, my girls were all out to get him. hahahaha! and ingrid was so engrossed she didn't realize she was akin to a 'walking dead'; haha her balloon was burst by someone.

then i heard a commotion right ahead of the pavilion. i whipped my head around just in time to see candice (red) clash with michelle (blue). ok, michelle is a touch rugby girl and she is super hiong. even i'm afraid to play her coz she's super fast and rough, but it's not the 'i will kill you' kinda rough la. hehe.

candice and michelle circled each other coz apparently someone's fort was being compromised and one was attacking while the other defending. they giggled and tried to stare each other down... then they suddenly flew at each other and wrestled until they fell to the ground. wow! glam candice getting into the game... DAMN ZAI LA CANCAN!!

and then while they were fighting to grab at each other's balloons they were still shouting out commands to the children army next to them. simply admirable.

MY JAW DROPPED TONS WHILE I WAS OBSERVING THIS GAME. AWESOME!!

seriously, this was the best game ever. i was one excited medic, climbing on the stone seats to get a better look of the action over the entire park, cheering for the reds and the greens (where my two other girls were at, but they had less of a strategy so they weren't so strong, but made a really good effort <3)>

candice and ingrid, my girls definitely trusted you both enough to band together so well and defend the two of you. thanks!!! XD

slogging away at 400 water bombs - alvin came on the 2nd day to help be a sai gang warrior; the guys made a total of 400 water bombs in 2 hours. WOW.

i was slicing up some lemons for day 2's games and i had extra, so zhixiong had one to perk himself up. it was so sour, his face screwed inwards, ahahahahahaha.

then melvin had the smartest idea to play 'zhong ji mi ma' with the remaining lemon slices. the first to kena was, of course, melvin. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

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for the sake of anyone who doesn't watch taiwan variety shows... and jade, the game is about trying to guess a mystery number picked by someone, between 1-99. the person that hits the number will have to do a forfeit.

example:

A: ok i'm ready. (number is 35)

B: er, 20?

A: 20-100

C: ... 55!

A: 20-55

D: 36!

A: 20-36

B: 35!

A: hehehehe.B: OH NOOOOOOOO!!!

*eats lemon*

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so we all kena except for alvin. melvin kena twice HAHAHAHAHAHA and he can't take sour stuff for nuts ahahahahhahahaha!!!

yeah, when u do mundane stuff u just have to do retarded things to entertain yourself. then chin ling dropped by for abit and joined us... and she had to eat a lemon HAHA!!

yeah, it's sadistic, we know. :D

by the time we hit Royalty Night (which was the ending finale) we had so many extra helpers come by to help and take part! the support from them was incredible - huijuan and simon, pam and roger, jefferson and yinghan (spongebob, haha!) jeff and yinghan actually came coz they were hoping we could play polar bear... but i crashed right after the debrief. sorry guys! :(

oh man and all my girls were so pretty... complaining that makeup made them itch and sneeze but allowing us to apply on their faces anyway, hehe. then they all had nice pretty colors like greens, blues and pinks, and when they asked what color mine was? 'black.'

all my girls in unison, 'EEKS!!!'

*demoralized*

so i used brown instead with gold glitter. hahahaha.

oh man i love my girls so much, they were so guai. and they didn't even complain one bit. my kids are growing up!! :D